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Sermonette: Free Space...a
sermonette about freeing up your life
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by Chris Cumming
Have you ever been engaged in a game of Monopoly in the
later stages of the game when you are low on cash and your opponents
have hotels on all their properties?
Do you remember sometimes rolling the dice, picking up your token,
counting out the squares, going passed those red hotels and landing on
Free Parking? Whew!…what a feeling.
One of the best feelings in the world is having free space. Free space
can take many forms depending on what we are talking about in your life.
If we are talking about clutter, having half or more of your garage
empty is a good feeling.
If we are talking about time, having a free hour before bedtime or a
whole afternoon free on Sunday makes you feel good all over.
If we are talking about your monthly budget, having $300 to $400 left
over after everything is paid generates a feeling like you won the
lottery.
Therefore, my encouragement for you is to create Free Space in all areas
of your life, including possessions, time and finances.
Create Free Space.
Problems arise when we allow ourselves to have too many possessions,
schedules that have no spare moments available or budgets that demand
100% or more of our income. Fact is many Americans financially spend
120% of their paycheck each month. They live beyond their means.
The problems arising from living with no free space are legion. The
resultant stress can affect our health, our mental fitness, our
emotional stability AND our very spiritual lives.
Christ knew this. One place He brings this to light is Matthew 19,
beginning in verse 16…
16 And, behold, one came and said
unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have
eternal life?
17 And he said unto him, Why callest
thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt
enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus
said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou
shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother:
and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
20 The young man saith unto him, All
these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt
be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that
saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
Notice what the
commentary says…
[Go and
sell that thou hast ...] The young man declared that he had
kept the law. That law required, among other things, that he should love
his neighbor as himself. It required, also, that he should love the Lord
his God supremely; that is, more than all other objects. If he had that
true love to God and man-if he loved his Maker and fellow-creatures more
than he did his property, he would be willing to give up his wealth to
the service of God and of man. Jesus commanded him to do this,
therefore, to test his character, and to show him that he had not kept
the law as he pretended, and thus to show him that he needed a better
righteousness than his own.
--Barnes
Another commentary says…
To be complete, to have the business
finished, and all hindrances to thy salvation removed, go and sell that
thou hast-go and dispose of thy possessions, to which it is evident his
heart was too much attached,
--Clarke
God is not necessarily telling all firstfruits to sell all they have and
live in the streets. He is commanding us to have Free Space in our
lives.
He is saying that if our lives are filled with concern and indulgence in
houses full of possessions, schedules filled with worldly concerns and
budgets overwrought with debt, these things become natural idols and we
cut ourselves off from being able to serve our fellow man, God, and our
brothers and sisters in the church.
I want you to imagine having $400 a month in Free Space money. That is,
you have reduced your overhead each month or brought yourself from a
high standard of living to a medium one. Imagine what that money could
do for you, your family and in your service to God.
The doors of opportunity open wide. In a few months, you now have
$1,200 to $1,600 saved up. On the one hand, you could buy that 35-inch
high-definition TV for cash and save a mountain of interest debt or you
could buy that same TV for your local church. You could send money with
that sympathy card to the new widow in the church. You could increase
your offerings for the Holy Days or with your tithes.
You can also create Free Space in your Feast Budget. Freeing up some of
your funds can be used to share with those less able to afford things in
this posh resort location.
Remember Feast 2005 when I gave the sermonette, “The
Twenty-Dollar Tip” which had as its premise the idea of giving
twenty dollars to deserving restaurant servers and others in the Tahoe
area? One of the admonitions of that sermonette was to thank God for
the prosperity and the opportunity to be able to give twenty-dollar tips
and the automatic blessings that come in doing so.
If your Feast budget has Free Space, you are able to do this. If your
Feast budget has Free Space, you can purchase an additional gift for the
raffle. The opportunities for your Free Space money are many.
The greatest benefit from Free Space will be a newfound sense of freedom
you may never have experienced. The stress in your life will melt away
and your pathway to Salvation will be filled with joy.
So go and begin finding abundant
Free Space in your life.
Further reading:
Minister's Notebook:
Simplify Your Life!
Minister's Notebook:
Abundance Through Stewardship
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